The Senate and House had collaborated on the document for months, and it requests a $US19.5 billion-a-year budget for the space agency. (NASA received $US19.3 billion in 2016, or 0.5% of the total federal budget.)

In an image that Trump tweeted on Tuesday, the president said he’s “delighted to sign this bill reaffirming our national commitment to the core mission of NASA: human space exploration, space science, and technology.”

End of the atmospheric era?

The 1958 document that formed NASA called upon the new space agency to contribute to the “expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere” — a mission that NASA, as Business Insider’s Rafi Letzter has reported, “carried out … with gusto under six Republican administrations and five Democratic ones.”

The new law doesn’t even mention earth science, which is troublesome considering what Trump’s administration has already laid out in its proposed budget for NASA released last week.

These four satellites allow scientists to monitor and predict the behaviour of Earth’s weather, shifting climates, ocean ecosystems, and other vital aspects of our planet. They help save peoples’ lives, protect wildlife, and prepare America and other nations for long-term changes.

However, these things may or may not come to pass.

While S.442 is now a law, a long and complex budgeting process remains before NASA knows what its actual funding levels are for fiscal year 2018, which runs from October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Trump’s proposed budget says NASA should receive $US19.1 billion per year, or $US400 million less than Congress’ law calls for.

Here are some notable titles, articles, and sections of the 146-page document:

“Assuring Core Capabilities For Exploration“ — calls for several missions: an uncrewed launch of SLS and Orion in 2018, followed by a crewed mission to the moon in 2021, and further trips to the moon and Mars after that date.

“Journey to Mars“ — asks NASA for a roadmap to send people to Mars by 2033; also steers the space agency away from pursuing the Asteroid Redirect Mission (a plan to capture an asteroid, tow it into orbit around Earth, and have astronauts explore the space rock).

“Aeronautics“ — calls on NASA to be a leader in aviation and hypersonic aircraft research; also asks the space agency to look into supersonic-aircraft research that would “open new global markets and enable new transportation capabilities.”

“Mars 2020 rover“ — Congress backs up NASA’s plan to use the car-sized rover to “help determine whether life previously existed on that planet.”